Wildfire Redirected

Autumn in Los Angeles, even the air is burning.

The wildfires are like runaway wild horses, ravaging the edge of the city. On television news, the smoke billows, the flames lick at the hillsides, a scene of the apocalypse.

Old Zhang sat in his subsidized housing, watching TV, and sighed. He knew the wildfires would surely reach their area. His neighbors had long packed their bags, ready to flee. Old Zhang also wanted to leave, but when he thought about the fact that he paid his rent annually, if he left, that money would be gone.

“So unlucky!” he cursed at the TV.

At this moment, the TV screen switched to a lush green mansion area. Outside the mansion area, the raging wildfires seemed to be blocked by an invisible barrier, taking a detour. The commentator excitedly introduced, “Thanks to advanced technology and the generosity of the Los Angeles millionaires, this area is spared from the wildfires…”

Old Zhang was stunned, he rubbed his eyes, thinking he was seeing things. Wildfires could be redirected? Was this a sci-fi movie?

He opened his phone and searched for related news. It turned out that some millionaires in Los Angeles, in order to protect their mansions, had jointly funded a high-tech company, using special equipment and weather control technology, to forcibly change the direction of the wildfires.

Old Zhang looked at the magnificent mansions, compared to his own dilapidated rental house, his heart full of mixed emotions. He thought of the almost expired bread he had just thrown away yesterday, and then looked at the news about the ability of those rich people to “command the weather” in order to avoid the wildfires. Suddenly, he felt like something was wrong with this world.

He felt as if he was living in a huge game, and he was just an insignificant little character, only able to watch those "whale players" manipulate the world.

Just as he was lost in thought, a violent knocking came from next door. It was the landlord, panting, he shouted, “Hurry up! The fire is coming!”

Old Zhang hurriedly packed his things, ready to escape. He looked at the firelight getting closer and closer outside the window, his heart filled with despair.

On the road to escape, Old Zhang saw many people like him, with their families, their faces panicked. They did not have advanced technology, they did not have the ability to "redirect" the wildfires, they could only scatter and run in the face of the fire.

He suddenly thought of those mansions he had seen in the news today, the lush green lawns, the rich people protected by technology.

He suddenly felt that these wildfires were not just burning the mountains, but also burning the last bit of fairness left in this society.

He looked up at the sky, the sun shrouded in smoke, which now looked like a giant mockery.